Something I remembered, from the 1994 fires - you know how you see streets where a house gets missed, then a house is gone, then a few more missed and so on? They believe that what can happen is an ember in the attic space which smoulders slowly in any dust or papers up there.
So, some ways to fire-proof your home - vacuum up the dust in the roof space, check that the insulation and flashing is keeping it well sealed up there, check the roof from the outside to see if it's well sealed and fix any problems.
Some friends were away on holiday with their neighbours in 1994's new year, they saw the fires on TV and rushed home to see if their house was safe. Our friends got home ahead of the fires - they had seen the fires in our area on TV, which then moved into their area a few days later. So they were home and had done what they could. Jim was on his roof hosing it, he'd blocked the gutters and filled them with water. He did the same for the neighbours too, because they were still down the coast at the camp site. Then Jim saw the fire coming "like an express train," he later told us and jumped down off his roof (sprained his ankle, he later found) and jumped in the car which his wife had packed and ready.
Their house was safe. So was the neighbour's. The neighbours came back three days later, saw their house still standing and breathed a sigh of relief. Then they went inside to check things out, dumped some dirty washing in the laundry, grabbed some clean clothes and headed back to the campsite, locking up the house again.
They were only half an hour down the road when the house went up. The whole lot, gone. They didn't know until the analysis later, but during the fire storm some sparks had got into the roof space and into the dust, which had been smouldering so slowly there was no flame and little smoke. When they opened the front door three days later, the fresh air ventilated the house and fanned the smoulder in the roof into flame. The debrief afterwards had everyone scurrying to remove dust from the roof space.
We'd be in trouble - all my old uni papers are stored in our roof space, assuming the cockroaches haven't eaten them all.
The advice we've always been given, is to stay with the house unless it really IS too bad a fire heading your way; if you plan to leave, leave early. If you plan to stay to fight, make sure you know what to do and are well prepared. Jane Seymour's husband sounds to me like he has made a well-considered decision. Get the kids out then you can keep your mind on the job.
In 1994, our neighbour on the edge of the fire front stayed with his house. His wife left but stayed within sight. We had left, because I was in and out of labour and we were cut off from hospital. Our neighbour had no running water - we'd lost our water supply hours earlier - but had filled buckets and his bathtub (as we did). He stood on his balcony all night and watched. And took photos. And stamped out fires with his feet. Embers constantly landed on his deck and would have burnt through and caught the house alight if he hadn't been there. It took about four hours for the worst of the fire front to pass, then the embers and spot fires were still a threat, for several days afterwards. The rubber soles on his boots melted from the heat and the spot fires in/on his house. He is convinced that if he had left, the house would have been badly damaged at least. And if that house had gone, it would have opened up a corridor for the fire to take out the north east corner of the town.
We were lucky, but we also had good support and great teamwork. Apparently in years past, before we came to the town, there was a bad fire which had all the townsfolk on the eastern ridge flapping wet sacks all night to save the town boundary.
I think the California fires are now way beyond the wet sack stage.
But seriously - if you're anywhere likely to be at risk in the next week or more, get the vacuum cleaner into the roof space to remove dust, and check how well sealed the space is.
Marg
